Best Bulgarian war movies
A curated collection of popular war movies from Bulgaria.

History Lesson (1957)
History Lesson (1957)

Frontier (1994)
Frontier (1994)
There is a small frontier post. A soldier abiding by the rules of the system gradually turns into a murderer.

Don't Look Back (1971)
Don't Look Back (1971)
The movie is set in the years of WWII. The partisans Stefan, Rado and Velko await a plane with weapon. The three men are trapped. Velko is killed. Rado and Stefan go to the Silent one. Only she knows the location where the weapon should be received. Army regiments arrive and a shootout begins. The plane drops the weapons. Stefan covers the others with machine gun while the Silent one and Rado leave with the weapon to the contingent

Surge of Tenderness (1983)
Surge of Tenderness (1983)
The end of World War II. The Bulgarian army is fighting the German one. Private Peycho Peychev known as Peychina is also at the frontier - a sensitive and timid person forced to witness the horrors of the war. His commanding officer keeps saying that at the end of a war the world is swept by a 'surge of tenderness'. After a serious injury, Peychina goes back to his birth place. The new ruling powers in the village try to win him over to their side but what he is really good at is holding the chisel, not the gun. He carves an image of Elena, a woman that he falls in love with. Yet, the surge of tenderness in the world seems to be canceled. Peychina comes to be responsible for the death of an anarchist and helps capture his commanding officer, who fights against the new rule. When the mayor hands him a gun again, he refuses to take it.

Dawn Over the Drava (1974)
Dawn Over the Drava (1974)
In 1944 Bulgaria switches sides and joins the war against Germany. The story focuses on the advance of the Bulgarian army through Yugoslavia and Hungary, as well as its internal struggles.

The Chain (1964)
The Chain (1964)
The struggles of a captured partisan to escape
The White Odyssey (1973)
The White Odyssey (1973)
During World War 2, four soldiers are trapped between a harsh winter and the enemy. They need food and shelter, but this comes at the expense of their position. With no where else to turn, they begin an Odyssey through the mountains.

Verses (1972)
Verses (1972)
April 1945. The Russian sniper Kolya joins the Bulgarian military contingent stationed in a Hungarian village. Kolya meets a Hungarian boy Yanush, with whom he shares his love of poetry. A German sniper is hiding in the woods and every day the death toll of the war grows higher. One day Yanush is killed by the German. Kolya seeks revenge.

Faithfulness We Pledge (1989)
Faithfulness We Pledge (1989)
Story of Sergio Rodriguez, commissar of an International Battalion in the Spanish Civil War

Unrelenting (1964)
Unrelenting (1964)
The action takes place at the end of WWII. It is 1944 on the Yugoslav front, where the Bulgarian Army is fighting bloody battles against the retreating Nazi units. Several lorries loaded with Bulgarian soldiers make a detour so as to deliver ammunitions to an army unit. They are people with different convictions sharing a common goal - to come out victorious and to return to their peaceful everyday life. Among them are people who believe in the triumph of the new system and for whom the difficult crusade is a confirmation of their ideals. They are also uncertain people. For the youngest this is the first trial in life. A young Yugoslav woman helps them find the road through the dangerous front line. Her romance with the one of Bulgarian soldiers symbolizes solidarity in the struggle against the common enemy. After a series of difficulties and mishaps, the soldiers manage to deliver the ammunitions to their comrades.

Echelons of Death (1986)
Echelons of Death (1986)
A story about the struggle to save Bulgarian Jews during World War II

The Last Voivoda (1968)
The Last Voivoda (1968)
Mityo Ganev is a leader of the armed bandits. The authorities accuse the Communists of his robberies. The detachment commander, Chalaka, and Mityo Ganev have a meeting but fail to reach an agreement. The police burn out Mityo's house and send his mother into internal exile. Chalaka cuts him off from his logistical support base. Mityo agrees to join the partisan detachment. Mityo and Velyo hold up the paymaster of the army garrison. When they take the money, Mityo wants to give it to the family of the exiles. Enraged, Velyo hands the detachment over to the Colonel. Mityo kills the traitor. The police and he army launch a major operation against the partisans. In a fierce battle, Chalaka leads the detachment out of encirclement while Mityo covers their retreat. A bullet hits him.

The Troop Leader (1959)
The Troop Leader (1959)
Members of a partisan underground unit struggle during the anti-fascist Bulgarian Resistance of World War II.
Na druhom brehu sloboda (1984)
Na druhom brehu sloboda (1984)

The Border (1954)
The Border (1954)
The boy Stefan brings the supper to his father in village council office. From the frontier post comes the news that bandits have crossed the border. The boy goes back home. He and his sister prepare to go to bed. A blizzard is raging outside. A wounded stranger comes to the house in search of shelter. The mother dresses his wounds and gives him food. It becomes clear that he is not the lieutenant from the frontier post that he claims to be. Stefan jumps from the window and dashes to the frontier post. The mother tries to keep the saboteur as long as possible. The two quarrels. He hits her with the submachine gun. He attempts to escape, but the border guards have already surrounded the house.